Criticism is generally bad actually..unless it is constructive, which none of this has been. I disagree with religion being a bad thing when it comes to it influencing the people in a nation. I know that Europe is not as openly religious like America...I don't really believe it is really a good thing. I think that the liberal attitudes many European countries hold, and their dislike of us leads to them using the fact that we are more religious as an "attack point". That doesn't mean just Europeans, but Americans who have the same mindset. People are attackng religion here because it is important and that is driven by people who do not like the U.S..some of which are in Europe.

I hope that is clear now. I didn't insult or make fun of Europe and no one made fun of the U.S...but regardless of whether the criticism is meant to be bad or constructive...I can disagree with it, and I can interpret it based on how it was said. So, I don't know what more to say. I never said Europe sucked, and I never accused anyone of saying that about America. I wasn't even making this an America vs. Europe situation. I mentioned that I believe the mindset many Europeans hold on religion, coupled with what they think of America leads to attacks on religion being so apparent here. I don't think Europeans exclusively hold this point of view...some Americans do as well, but I was simply pointing out that people who attack us for being religious are driving the "trend" not to be, which is apparent in Europe (and also holds a large amount of people that feel that way I mentioned).

~Kiva